Optical transmission for the James Webb Space Telescope

Paul A. Lightsey; Benjamin B. Gallagher; Neal Nickles; Tracy Copp

doi:10.1117/12.924841

21 September 2012 Optical transmission for the James Webb Space Telescope

Paul A. Lightsey, Benjamin B. Gallagher, Neal Nickles, Tracy Copp

Proceedings Volume 8442, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2012: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave; 84423A (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.924841
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2012, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Abstract

The fabrication and coating of the mirrors for the James Webb Space Telescope has been completed. The spectral reflectivity of the protected gold coated beryllium mirrors has been measured. The predicted end-of-life transmission through the telescope builds from these values. The additional phenomena that have been analyzed are contamination effects and effects of the environment for the JWST operation about the Earth-Sun L2 Lagrange libration point. The L2 environment analysis has been based on radiation testing of mirror samples and hypervelocity testing to assess the micrometeoroid impact effects. The mirror showed no change in reflectance over the VIS-SWIR wavelengths after exposure to 6-9 Grad (Si) that simulated 6 years orbiting the L2 Lagrange point. The effects of hypervelocity particle impacts on the mirrors from test data has been extrapolated to the to the anticipated flux characteristics for micrometeoroids at the L2 environment. The results show that the micrometeoroid effects are orders of magnitude below the particulate contamination effects. The final end-of-life transmission for the mirrors including all of these phenomena will meet the performance requirements for JWST.

Citation Download Citation

Paul A. Lightsey, Benjamin B. Gallagher, Neal Nickles, and Tracy Copp "Optical transmission for the James Webb Space Telescope", Proc. SPIE 8442, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2012: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave, 84423A (21 September 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.924841

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available